No Labels, No Problem

 

 It is all over but the shouting.

Everybody and by that I mean everyone in the mainstream media seems to think the 2024 Presidential election is over. 

It will be Joe Biden (if someone wakes him up) against Donald Trump (if he's not in jail or maybe if he is in jail, Trump's taking a wait-and-see approach.)

Jeffrey Goldberg of "The Atlantic" said, "It's fair to say that there's a very, very good chance that the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States in May or June of next year will be a convicted felon. That's an astonishing fact." 

Mr. Goldberg goes on to say, "I was just talking to somebody, a senior official in a government department, and I asked this person an honest question. I didn't know the answer to it. I said, can you be president from jail? I didn't know the answer to that. And this person, instead of giving me the answer, because I think they didn't know the answer, said, it's amazing that we're at this place, that we're asking this question of each other. Can you run the country from prison? This is a live question."

I lived through the Trump years, and I can safely say I'm not sure he actually "ran" the country.  My problem with Trump is that he always sounded like he was ready to take away "causal Fridays" if our KPIs didn't improve.

Do you know who else wants Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee?  Joe Biden. 

The Washington Post reports "President Biden's campaign has no headquarters yet, less than 10 staffers and is spending hardly any money. But his aides say that's all part of the plan."

Oh yes, another one of President Biden's plans. Actually, his "plan" is to let 35 percent of the Republican party nominate someone who continually loses because he acts like a baboon.

I can speak for most Americans. The mere thought of a Biden-Trump campaign gives me a migraine headache.  It would be a perpetual fingernails on the blackboard moment for the country.

The indispensable Jim Geraghty said it best:  "An astounding 65 percent of voters don’t want Biden to run for another term, and 60 percent of voters don’t want Trump to run again. Among independents, 73 percent don’t want Biden to run again, and 70 percent don’t want Trump to run again. There are many Americans who dread a rematch between two habitually dishonest, narcissistic, shouting old men and who desperately hunger for some other serious option".

The third option could be the Libertarians, which is not a party but a bunch of people who want to smoke dope and keep their taxes low.  It may surprise you that a party dedicated to individual liberty can't get it together long enough to get somebody elected dog catcher anywhere.

It looks like a group known as "No Labels" might, maybe, could possibly run a third-party candidate. 

"No Labels" believes "This moment demands American leaders and citizens alike declare their freedom from the anger and divisiveness that are ruining our politics and most importantly, our country.  We must recommit to the fundamental beliefs that have historically united Americans and provided a common understanding of who we are and where we hope to go."  Okay

I think we have a united American fundamental belief that Biden is just a couple of days away from wandering around DC in his pajamas and Trump is a total nutjob.

The No Labels website talks about bipartisan approaches and people working together. They also talk about the importance of the Bill Of Rights, a balanced budget, and politics stops at the water's edge.   Good luck, guys.

West Virginia's Joe Manchin is the man most often mentioned as a No Labels candidate. He's not a total liberal whack job and acts like you could carry on a conversation with him even if you misgender somebody.

I don't know.  Third parties sound good but tend to peter out at the end.  There was a time when it looked like Ross Perot could possibly win, but it ended up that he just made it possible for Sexy In His Own Mind Bill Clinton to win The White House.

That worries Biden because they fear Manchin will siphon votes away and put Trump back in The White House.  

Trump must add this to his worries besides his four million court cases,too.  Biden got a lot of votes because people couldn't take Trump. Trump got a lot of votes because people couldn't take Biden.  And a lot of those 2020 Trump voters could vote for Manchin.

 It becomes a moot point if DeSantis wins the nomination, triggering the Democrats to nominate someone much younger than Biden.

But that doesn't look like that will happen. Some people are bound and determined to make you like Trump and/or Biden and don't care what you think.

 

 

 

The Jerk, Too

Early editions of this post just had the title "The Jerk".  Well, it turns out I had another post called "The Jerk" back in 2017, so I made this one a sequel.  Lewis Grizzard never had this problem.

 

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.

For the past 15 years, you have heard all of this talk about what a nice guy Joe Biden is-just like your favorite uncle.

And in the 2020 campaign, you heard about how normal Joe Biden was. He likes ice cream! He doesn't like porn stars.  He doesn't seem like a Grade-A narcissist like you know who.

After he was elected, people on TV said he wouldn't be as petty as The Big Bad Orange One.

I was skeptical, to say the least.

I have been watching Joe Biden from the corner of my eye for years. I was in the eighth grade when he was first elected Senator.

I didn't believe for one minute that Biden was this Non-Partisan Guy.  I saw what he did to Robert Bork. I saw what he did to Clarence Thomas.  I saw how he told a crowd that Republicans wanted to put African-Americans in chains.

Well, guess what?  Biden has not been your cool uncle who has brought America together after the egoism of Donald Trump.  Rather, he has doubled down on some of the nastiness.

The biggest threat to America is not China, Russia, or Islamic extremists.  The biggest danger is Americans, at least the MAGA kind.

Additionally, a report in Axios calls President Biden "Old Yeller" and it portrays him as a grouchy old man given to profanity laced tirades with all of the F-bombs you might want. You can read the Axios article here: https://www.axios.com/2023/07/10/biden-temper-us-president

That runs counter to the image Biden has given to the public: the kindly ice cream eatin' grandpappy wearing aviator sunglasses with a penchant for tall tales and smelling hair.

In other Biden news, it seems Hunter was given a slap on the wrist for all of his shenanigans although calling it a slap on the wrist is an insult to slaps on the wrist.  It wasn't quite "Teddy gets away with Chappaquiddick" but it is hard to image the same deal being given to a person with the last name of "Trump".

Last week, a small bag of cocaine was found at the White House. We've had several explanations of how a small bag of white powder can show up at the White House but the official version is "We Don't Know", which is the go-to Biden explanation of everything.

But to me, the most damaging hit on Biden was an Op-Ed piece written by Maureen Dowd of The New York Times.  

Ms Dowd is not MAGA. Whatever MAGA is, Maureen Dowd is far from it. However, she wrote this piece: "It's Seven Grandchildren, Mr. President" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/opinion/hunter-biden-child.html

The President has seven grandchildren, but only acknowledges six because number seven is the result of a roll in the hay between Hunter and a stripper.  Apparently, it is all the child's fault.

When you are a Democrat and you lose Maureen Dowd, you have trouble.

It is time for all of us to admit one thing. The President is a Jerk.  Charles C.W. Cooke of The National Review called Biden a word that rhymes with "Gas Pole".

Yes, Trump is a jerk, too and that word that rhymes with "Mass Soul".  The only thing positive you can say about Trump is that his jerkiness is part of his brand and he leans, heavily, into it. But, honestly, you just wish he would act like he had some sense like my dad used to say.

Other Presidents have been jerks.  Johnson and his bathroom conferences with his staffers. Kennedy and his trollops. Clinton and his bimbos.  When you tell the world that only you can solve its problems, you will probably have some jerkiness in you.

But there is something about the pious posturing around Biden that makes it all the more distasteful and helps to explain why people do not want him to run for re-election even if the other guy is the other jerk.

 

 

Boomers Are Staying Alive

I was born in 1959.

This was before color television, car seat belts, and diet sodas.  Back then, everybody, including doctors, smoked. Doctors smoked during surgery.

Doctor:  "Scalpel"
Nurse: "Scalpel"
Doctor: "Pall Mall, Lucky Strikes if you got it."

Back then, marijuana was considered so dangerous only jazz musicians could smoke it. Now you can eat it in a gummy.

In 1959, major league baseball was not in Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Houston, Arlington, Seattle, or Phoenix.  There was no Super Bowl, either.

I've started thinking about my status as a Baby Boomer. I'm one of the younger ones.  But now some people say we should "get out of the way" and let the more youthful people take control.

After all, boomers have been in the spotlight for some time now. 

Boomers came into our own in the mid-60s when we started growing our hair out to make room for our brains.

We played our music loud. Songs were sung by people who could not actually sing (looking at you, Mr. Dylan).

But our songs were profound, man. Like "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," which said, and I quote, "In a gadda da vida, honey don't you know that I'm lovin' you" The songs were so deep we didn't even know what they meant.

However, somewhere in the '70s, music began to change. A new form of popular music came out called "Disco."

Disco songs centered around several basic topics. One was "boogie."  It was vital to get up and boogie. It was also essential to get down and boogie.  What "boogie" meant, I don't know. I guess you'll know it when you see it.

Another topic was dancing.  Dancing was very important in the Disco era because it was integral to getting up/getting down to boogie.

I must admit that I was one of the people in the "Disco Sucks" crowd.  It had nothing to do with the fact that I am very un-coordinated, and when I dance, I look like I am having a seizure.

It was just all of the songs sounded the same. I liked a couple of them.  That one that says, "I like the nightlife, I like to boogie," was one that I liked, but for the most part, disco left me cold.

The other day, my wife and I went to a concert by a Bee Gees cover band, The Florida Bee Gees. Let me say that they kicked The Tennessee Bee Gees butt.

When The Florida Bee Gees came out on stage, they told us we should be dancing.  That was really bad advice for most of the audience.  Most of the crowd should not be dancing, at least without written permission from their physician.

They had three guys up front, like the real Bee Gees.  One guy could sing in that falsetto that Barry Gibb sang with.  I got to give that guy credit-there's no way I could sing that high EVER.

They did all of the Bee Gees songs. Some pre-disco, but mostly the disco era Bee Gee songs. They did one song I wasn't familiar with: "I Started A Joke."  You are not telling the truth if you say you remember this song.

They ended the concert, of course, with "Stayin' Alive" from "Saturday Night Fever."  I didn't see "Saturday Night Fever" when it came out because I associated John Travolta with his character on "Welcome Back, Kotter," Vinnie Barbarino.

Plus, you know, it had disco music in it.  Yuck.

"Stayin' Alive"  is a great song.  One line has always confused me.

"We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man." 

I am still trying to understand what that means.  But The Bee Gees have a point. Everything has to be run by The New Times to make sure it is what the country needs to be thinking about. 

In the seventies, The New York Times told us we must be concerned with The Shah of Iran, the energy crisis, inflation, and a million other things. The New York Times still says we should be worried about those things, except for The Shah. (If you want, substitute the word "Trump" for The Shah.)

In any event, I was glad I went to the Florida Bee Gees concert and shook what was left of my groove thing.

It showed me that even the music I wasn't fond of is better than what's out now.

If you'll forgive me, I must go now. I have some kids to tell to get off my lawn.